Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am disgusted to the pit of my being by the stance taken by the Government on the expulsion of a Russian diplomat and our sycophantic, fawning behind the British authorities and the European Union regarding the matters in Salisbury. Unfortunately, I could not be here last night but I wish to put on the record, in the strongest possible terms, my abhorrence of the stance being taken by the Government on these matters. I do not believe it reflects the view of the Irish people. I, for one, want no part of it. It is wrong on so many counts that we do not have the time to deal with the relevant matters here.

The hypocrisy is beyond belief. We are supposed to be a sovereign, independent and neutral country. That we would take a position based not at all on evidence but on the suspicions of a friendly power is absolutely reprehensible. I do not believe for one moment that An Garda Síochána had any evidence against the individual who was expelled from Ireland. If it had, why did it not act upon it before now? This is an absolutely shameful stance to take. What has gone on will put into the tuppenny-ha'penny place the lies about weapons of mass destruction that were used to justify the Iraq war. Similar circumstances are unravelling here.

Last night, the Tánaiste said that if we had not rowed in behind the lads, we would be in a very difficult place. The Minister for Finance said we must act in solidarity with our ally. That is just not good enough in a modern climate. The idea that the Russian people, or Russian authorities, could be ganged up on on the basis of a decision to stand behind our friends is exactly the type of ideology we try to warn our children about. We try to teach them that one does not go on with the big boys or gang up on the basis of tittle-tattle and gossip because it is the prevailing thing to do. If something is wrong and one does not have evidence, one should investigate it. One should take a step back and not move along with the pack. As an independent country, we had an opportunity to do something different. I feel utterly embarrassed by the stance taken by the Government. The double standards alone are sickening. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Russian authorities were involved in this matter.

3 o’clock

One contrasts what we have done here with the direct evidence where our own citizens were targeted by a foreign power and had their identities stolen. I refer, of course, to the incidents in Dubai in January 2010 when Mossad agents used forged Irish passports to carry out an assassination. It was an absolute violation of diplomacy. What did the Irish authorities do then? Did we swing into action? The head of the Dubai police at the time said he was 99% sure Mossad was responsible. Did we expel any Israelis? No, we did not. We waited for an investigation to be carried out before we took that stand. That was when one of our own citizen's identity was violated. I contrast that with the suspicion, which has been mooted by the British authorities, and the way in which we have shamefully fallen into line in that regard.

Mr. Craig Murray, the British diplomat and human rights activist, has written a striking précis on this and made comparisons between what has gone here and the pressure in relation to furthering the subsequently-discredited lie on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He has said it is a scientific impossibility that the UK's chemical investigations unit could have tested for Russian Novichok because it never possessed a Russian sample for the purposes of comparison. The point is made that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, has had full access to all Russian chemical weapons facilities for more than a decade. In fact, last year its officials completed the destruction of the last Russian chemical weapons. I contrast that with the American chemical weapons stockpile, which has five years left to run before it will be eliminated. Israel has a chemical weapons stockpile but it will not even sign up to the OPCW. They have said that Novichok and the new nerve gas are of a type developed in Russia but no evidence has been provided that it was made there. In fact, the evidence as to whether they existed at all could have been manufactured by anybody else.

It is shameful that we have gone down this road. It is part of a Russophobia I want no part of and it is about worthy and unworthy victims and worthy and unworthy powers. If we are talking about extrajudicial killings taking place in other territories, which is reprehensible, let us look at what the American authorities, the Israelis and the Saudis are doing in Yemen. If we want to expel people, why not expel them all given that those crimes are verified and backed up by evidence?

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